Do you or a family member receive in-home help with bathing, meal preparation, or similar tasks? Do you know that one out of ten people in Massachusetts is cared for by a worker like yours?

Bristol Elder Services, Inc., a community-based, nonprofit human services organization, coordinates care for elders and disabled individuals in the greater Attleboro, Fall River, and Taunton areas. As the population continues to age, the number of people we serve will grow. We will need more people to provide the care that elders and disabled individuals require in order to remain in their own homes and communities.

Human service work, such as providing hands on care, is essential, demanding, and often unheralded – and workers do it with individual dedication and authentic compassion. They are America’s other first responders.

The problem is, there are not enough of them to go around.

According to the study, “Who Will Care: The Workforce Crisis in Human Services”, which was released by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute and UMass Dartmouth, the state’s population is expected to increase 12 percent by 2035, but the working-age population in Massachusetts is expected to drop during that time. The report found that by 2024 there will be a need for up to 25,000 human services positions, but the state’s overall workforce is expected to decline by 36,000 workers by 2024.

That combination of increased demand and huge decline in workers has created a crisis in the provision of care needed by elders and disabled individuals in the community. Low wages make it challenging to attract and keep staff.

But why should the average person be concerned? Because family members and neighbors will be at risk without an adequately staffed workforce.

Prolonged vacancies are also causing stress and burnout among current workers, creating a vicious cycle of additional turnover.

The problem demands a comprehensive solution. The Providers’ Council, the state’s largest human services trade organization, has filed three pieces of legislation that could help community-based nonprofit human services organizations such as Bristol Elder Services retain and recruit staff. The first bill would close the gap between the salaries of workers employed by agencies such as Bristol and the salaries of state workers who do similar work. The second bill would create an educational loan repayment program for low paid workers. The third bill would allow nonprofit organizations who provide services under state contracts the option of buying health insurance through the Group Insurance Commission.

We understand that state government faces cost pressures and competing demands for resources. But is there anything more important than caring for our most vulnerable family members, friends, and neighbors who need help?